Of Carnivals and Circuses

Festivals, like Pig Pickin', were not common in the early 1900s in Kingstree. But that's not to say Kingstree residents lacked for entertainment in those days. Numerous carnivals, shows, and circuses came to town, usually in the spring or fall, some staying for as long as a week at a time, to provide amusement for local residents.

One wonders what our ancestors would think of cameras in mobile telephones.

In September 1897, it was the Harris Nickle-Plate Show, highlighted by a big circus parade at noon on September 12. There were shows later in the day attended by huge crowds; however, The County Record complained bitterly about the games of chance that were part of the show and the gambling that ensued.

Such shows became more prevalent from 1907 onward. In December, 1907, the Big 10-Cent Society Vaudeville Show spent a week in Kingstree. Each evening started at 7 p.m. with a band concert, with the main show beginning at 8 p.m. Another such show was Howe's Great London Shows, which boasted a troupe of performing lions; Duchess, purported to be the world's largest elephant; and Jake, a five-foot, 10-inch gorilla.

In October, 1908, King & Tucker's Big City Railroad Show arrived with their own train of railroad cars. On October 20, they presented two shows in a big tent pitched on the Epps lot on Academy Street, complete with a trio of funny clowns and excellent trapeze artists.

While carnivals no longer arrive in Kingstree on trains, 

passenger trains still stop daily at the Kingstree Depot.

Many events touted brass band performances, but the high school had no marching band then.

The last week of December, 1908, found the Kingstree Fire Department sponsoring Smith's Greater Shows, believed to be the first real carnival ever to come to Kingstree. When the show arrived, it was much bigger than anyone had anticipated. They carried their own electric light supply, and for the first time downtown Kingstree was lit up at night. In addition to other attractions, the show had an old-fashioned merry-go-round, as well as an "ocean-wave" carousel. The Japanese Bowling Alley was also said to be very popular with Kingstree residents.

Imagine what Kingstree's "Fire Laddies" of the early 1900s would think of this.

There were also disappointments for Kingstree's townspeople through the years as several amusement companies advertised that they were bringing their carnivals to Kingstree, but then either decided to go to a larger community, or just simply never appeared on the advertised date.

One of the most remembered events was John Robinson's Four-Ring Circus, which spent a day in Kingstree in October, 1910. Seven thousand spectators thronged the streets of town to view the 10 a.m. parade, while 4,500 tickets were sold for the 2 p.m. performance. Billed as America's oldest and richest circus, it had been coming to Kingstree for 50 years. The County Record's reporter was most impressed by "Strongman" Warren L. Travis, who lifted 14 men standing on a platform.

Whether 1910, or 2018, a parade draws spectators to the streets of Kingstree.

However, not all the traveling shows got great reviews. The St. Louis Amusement Company Carnival arrived in April 1911. The County Record was distinctly unimpressed, complaining that the carnival left the streets of Kingstree far dirtier than they'd been before it arrived, adding that it was likely the carnival had cheated the fire department as the "fire laddies" received only $90, which was supposed to represent 10-percent of the proceeds. The paper believed that the shows had netted at least $2,500.

In October of that year, a five-year-old Kingstree boy were seriously injured while walking with his brother and sister to the area where Sanger's Combined Shows had pitched its tents. The boy was knocked down by a runaway horse, suffering cuts and bruises to his head. Despite this mishap, the circus drew very large crowds to both its afternoon and evening performances.

Thankfully, today's horses trot sedately down the parade route.

In 1912, John Sparks' Circus pitched its tents in Scott's Field, and a year later in 1913, C.F. Harradan's Vaudeville Show provided a week's worth of shows from a tent on South Academy Street.

On at least one occasion the carnival's band played for a local dance. In December, 1913, the band traveling with Smith's Greater Shows, once again visiting Kingstree, played for the first dance of the season held on a Friday night at the Thomas Opera House.

When W.I. Nexsen began construction in 1913 of the three-story building which now stands on the northwest corner of Main and Academy streets, The County Record noted, "This lot for several years has been an exhibition ground for sundry and varied amusements and gaming operators, and only a few days ago, it was occupied by a large Coney Island merry-go-round.

The three-story Nexsen Building still stands on the corner of Main and Academy.

A more recent story involving a carnival has nothing to do with its performance in Kingstree. During the winter of 1956-57, the Ross Manning Show used the New Warehouse on Longstreet Street (where KFC, Canton, and Thomlinson & McWhite are today), just a block off Main Street, as its winter headquarters. On March 21, 1957, The Greenville News ran a front-page story, noting that carnival attendants were assuring Kingstree residents that the citizens had nothing to fear from the two boa constrictors that had escaped their cage the day before and were still missing. Attendants, who were preparing the equipment to take it on the road the next week, noticed the six-foot and nine-foot boa constrictors were missing from their cage but were certain that the snakes had not gone far.

Sure enough, the nine-foot snake was found later that day coiled around the axle of the "snake trailer" parked inside the warehouse. But according to a story in The State on March 26, the six-foot boa led its keepers on a six-day game of hide-and-seek. It was found on Saturday morning when the merry-go-round truck which had been moved out in front of the warehouse Friday night would not start. When a carnival employee took a look at the truck's engine, he found the missing boa constrictor wrapped around the engine. It took Wayne Barlow, the snakes' owner, and a helper 30 minutes to unwind the snake from its hiding place as it was stiff with cold. Once freed, the snake was placed in a tub of warm water to thaw him out. The carnival left the next week on schedule with both boas safely confined to their cage.

All photos taken in downtown Kingstree during the 2018 Pig Pickin' Festival

Reader Comment on Last Week's Post:  In case any of you missed Louis Jacobs' comment on Facebook about last week's drugstore post, here it is: "Thanks so much for the information. Uncle Monty (Dr. C.D. Jacobs' twin brother), would sit outside the drugstore and pretend to be Dr. Jacobs. He would give diagnoses and infuriate Dr. Jacobs! Uncle Monty thought it was hilarious!